I picked up some herter's brass for a song... It said made in finland... does anyone have an opinion on the quality of this brass?
Thanks
Aaron

I've used it in the past without any problems. I believe it was made for Herters by Lapua and/or Norma. Finland = Lapua.

Yep, most of my supply of .264 Winchester brass is Herter from Sweden, which in all likelihood was made by Norma. It is measurably heavier than WW brass (holds a tad less powder) and some of it has given me great service for over 30 years.

Likewise, most of my .222 Magnum brass is Herter, made in Finland (likely Lapua, or possibly Sako?). It works marvelously, but I do find an occasional round with a very slightly narrower extractor groove that is a tight fit in some shellholders. I solved this problem by getting a different brand of shellholder that accepts all cases without a hitch. The apparent variation in extractor grooves has had no effect on chambering, extraction, or accuracy in the gun.

I've also used some Herters 6.5x55 years ago, some .223 (that I resized to use in a .222), and some 7x57 (resized for .257 Roberts). All was excellent brass.

Ofcourse Herters brass is heavier than other brands. Other sellers would call it brass and go on. Herters would require atleast 20 adjectives----if you have never seen their old catalogs,look at one if you get the chance. By the time they get the full name tacked on it would be heavier. Their stuff would atleast be Herters model perfect custom supreme presentation grade deluxe,famous model 96 Hudson Bay match quality brass. This would be their common variety and the good stuff would have more names. Gotta love them old Herters catalogs. Gun Control act of 1969 pretty much did them in.

LOL Carpetman! You brought back some fond memories with that one. In their day, Herters probably had more advertising copy writers on staff than any other company in the US.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman:
Ofcourse Herters brass is heavier than other brands. Other sellers would call it brass and go on. Herters would require atleast 20 adjectives----if you have never seen their old catalogs,look at one if you get the chance. By the time they get the full name tacked on it would be heavier. Their stuff would atleast be Herters model perfect custom supreme presentation grade deluxe,famous model 96 Hudson Bay match quality brass. This would be their common variety and the good stuff would have more names. Gotta love them old Herters catalogs. Gun Control act of 1969 pretty much did them in.

And don't forget the "Wasp Waist" bullets they sold.

Bear in Fairbanks

I bought some .270 brass from Herters years ago.....NEVER AGAIN!

quote:

Their stuff would atleast be Herters model perfect custom supreme presentation grade deluxe,famous model 96 Hudson Bay match quality brass.

....and all of that was on the headstamp, too!

Anneal the necks before you try to use it. That stuff has to be 30 years old. Otherwise, it should be fine.

I've never experienced any neck hardening due to age (artery hardening, maybe ). There's always a danger of over-annealing brass, so I wouldn't necessarily anneal it (especially if it is unfired) unless and until trial indicated the necessity thereof.

I use the Herter's brass I mentioned earlier on a regular basis and have yet to need to anneal any of it. I did experience some cracked necks on the .223 sized to .222 on subsequent firings, but that's a different story, of course, and was way back when the brass was only a few years old, so it had nothing to do with age.

Herter's must have bought their brass from different places at different times. I have in front of me a box of Herter's unprimed brass in 8x57 (headstamp is a simple "HERTER'S 8mm") that claims to have been made in Canada (on the back there is a small note: "Customs Officials note: contents made in Canada"). For those of you interested in their hyperbole, on the front of the box, accompanied by their coat of arms, it states (all in caps): "Herter"s Cartridge Cases - Guaranteed world's finest quality brass cartridge cases - Micrometer precision made of finest virgin brass - Each case electrically inspected - Each case electronically inspected for faults - Made in Canada by precision craftsmen - 20 cases." On the back of the box it states: "Herter [note: no 's here] ultra precision international match grade cases - Unconditionally guaranteed made of the finest procurable virgin cartridge brass. Unconditionally guaranteed made to closer tolerances and with finer workmanship than any cartridge cases made in the world." BTW, this brass is in the same weight range as current Remington and Winchester brass but about 20 grs heavier than old Canadian IMPERIAL brass. In contrast, a batch of 'new' Herter's 303 British brass that I bought recently (bought in bulk, so country of manufacture unknown) is about 15 grs heavier that Rem and Win brass, but comparable in weight to some of the heavier IMPERIAL brass. I can't comment on the longevity of either caliber of brass; so far they've only been loaded once.

Cheers, Al

Those of you that shoot cast bullets have undoubtedly heard of FWFBL--Felix World Famous Bullet Lube. Felix was a poster at the old Shooters site and posted his recipe for the lube. I named it FWFBL as a take-off on the Herters naming of products. Virgin brass? Didn't even Know brass engaged in such. Hell I'd like to see that. Maybe it's made out of ugly brass? Then again I think they can call things virgin that in fact all of it is and they can charge extra. Virgin olives for example. Who has seen olives doing it.

Herter's brass has always worked well for me, considering that I started using it in 1964, and I still have some of that batch of .38 Specials after unknown numbers of reloads. Most of my .222 Rem Mag brass is Herter's, a lot of .222 Rem, 7x57mm, .270 WCF, and some .30-06. The boxes are all marked either Made in Finland or Made in Sweden, and the brass, as noted by three other folks is heavier than our US made Winchester brass. Herter's was a wonderful resource, and a damned shame that the GCA of 1968 put them out of business, Loved their products. There's one of their brass mugs sitting on my reloading bench right now. And the Herter products were inexpensive too, and have remained so, such that I still pick up Herter products via Ebay. OH btw, those "Wasp Sonic" or "Wasp Waist" bullets really do shoot well in my .222, .222Rem Mag, and .22-250. The .243 versions are good too.
So, I'm a Herter lover
Larry

Another sales technique Herters used that always made me laugh was their contradictions. On one page(made up example)would be an ad saying how ridiculous it would be to use a messy cast bullet when their Wasp-Waist Sonic Missle Tail bullet was so superior and don't take chances using inferior bullets. Then in the bullet mold(casting section)it would say don't be misled by claims that other types of jacketed bullets outperform cast bullets. You can cast your own with this Type A mold and save money and get performance equal to any of the over priced jacketed bullet. Don't buy the cheaper type B molds and would list reasons. Then even on same page would be ad for Type B mold--the one to buy--don't waste money on over-priced type A molds,the type B will do everything the Type A does.